Cape Town
Observatory home atelier
Harbour shelves and a studio bench in a flat atelier.
Field notes: observatory home atelier, Cape Town
The project centred on a compact flat in Observatory, Cape Town, where the client had set up a home atelier. The space was tight, with a lean stoep entry and high, east-facing windows catching bright morning light. The brief called for Harbour Shelves in solid ash and a Studio Bench finished in oil, with enough surface to work on medium-format framing and model making. A Baobab Lamp was included for warm overhead light, as the room’s orientation left shaded corners after midday. The ceiling was slightly lower than standard, around 2.3 metres, which influenced the vertical depth of the shelves and the lamp’s drop.
Installation took place on a weekday morning, working around an existing collection of paintings and a few pot plants. The bench had to allow for circulation in the narrowest section, just 1.4 metres between wall and bookshelf. The Harbour Shelves were planned for a brick and plaster wall, with careful marking to avoid the old electrical conduits hidden beneath paint from past decades. Because the room doubled as both studio and lounge, everything needed to be robust yet easy to reorganise.
Transferred lessons: approaches that travelled
This Observatory atelier became a test ground for making the most of tight, multipurpose rooms. The way we handled mounting, surface finishes and modularity proved adaptable for later jobs in equally snug or mixed-use spaces. The discipline of working around unpredictable wall conditions and odd ceiling heights sharpened our approach for similar old Cape buildings. Lighting placement, especially with the Baobab’s cord length, was refined here and informed our future installations elsewhere.
- Refining shelf mounting technique for uneven, old masonry walls
- Optimising studio benches for dual work-lounge use with easy repositioning
- Adapting lamp cord drops for low ceilings and multiuse rooms
- Pre-marking drill points to avoid legacy conduits and wiring
Next time: points for adjustment
For future projects in similar Observatory flats, we would tweak the shelf depth and lamp installation sequence. The original 250 millimetre shelf depth was generous for books but slightly intrusive in a passage zone. Going slightly shallower could free up movement. Power access for the Baobab Lamp was on the far side from the preferred work area, which made cabling less direct. Next time, a quick on-site check for plug points would help streamline things, especially with new tenants or changed layouts.
Given how the Studio Bench was used for both making and relaxing, an under-shelf or integrated storage cubby would be a practical addition. Offering more modular feet would also help when the existing floors slope towards the stoep exit, a common quirk in these heritage buildings.